R&D was the genesis that launched Northern Electric from the sleepy Canadian branch plant to a publicly traded company with a market cap of more than $300B, $30B in sales, and 100,000 employees worldwide. The lessons learned from my Nortel experience... “Innovate or Die“

By John F. Tyson

10 - Looking Back

"What can be learned from the largest bankruptcy in Canadian history? The primary lesson I learned from my adventures applies to all organizations powered by innovation: Innovate, adapt, or die. … In so many marketplace battles over the years, the company’s vanguard of design-based thinking, armed with user-centric values and whole-product experience, made the critical difference. … BNR created the patents which sold for $4.5B - more than all of Nortel's fixed & current assets combined. What does that tell us about the value of innovation?"